


A Pirate I was Meant to be

by Rumoris



Category: Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: Age of Sail, Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/M, M/M, Mermaids, okay, so this story has half of the GO cast Aoba and tiny teams included
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-19
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-05-02 10:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5244692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rumoris/pseuds/Rumoris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if a merman wants to join the crew of Ornitier in order to earn a place in the ranks of pirates? Can a seadweller even whitstand the life on a ship or will he jump back into the sea after a few days? But in the meantime, General Minamisawa is restlessly hunting the ship, and the merman brings a completely new kind of danger fo the raggy crew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The need for a chance

Chaos reigned over the ship.

The smell of gunpowder quickly filled the air. After the siege, things have gotten rather fiery among the two crews. And something like this wasn't supposed to happen if everything went according to his plans. They were only after the goods of the cargo ship but Namikawa underestimated its importance and let the soldiers who appeared on the deck surprise him. Needless to say, everything went out of control after that.

This was not among his plans. Not at all. All he wanted was to rob them out of their goods and run.

But now it became almost impossible as the navy's thugs were closing in on them.

"Any ideas, captain?" Wanda Naoto, his first mate looked at him, probably expecting a good solution from the great captain. Yet all Namikawa could do was to shrug and keep defending from the incoming attacks, viciously swinging his sword forward.

"Do you think we would be here if I had any ideas?" he hissed.

"Then think of something?"

"Just keep fighting. The more goes down the better chances we have for escaping."

They slowly started making their way back to their ship, dancing like their swords were their partners, jumping away from incoming attacks. Alas, this deemed to be a useless try, as they were still fighting in the middle of the deck.

If only the side of the cargo ship was closer… If only…

"Oh look! If it isn't some dirty pirat on this clean deck. How hideous."

The fight froze for a split second.

A few metres away from them a youth wearing the uniform of the naval captains ascended the stairs, holding an expensive blunderbuss in his right hand. His golden eyes gleamed in the smoke as he carefully observed the trespassers on his ship.

Pirates. The most hateful creatures on this vast ocean, who mindlessly attack any ship that comes in their way.

"Oi, Rensuke, are you sure you want to dirty my Artemicion? Are you?"

Rensuke clicked his tongue nervously and brought his sword-using hand down. His face twitched into an unpleasant smile as he answered.

"Your Artemicion? The last time I've seen yer snobbish face you were only a lieutenant on the Crescent and now you dare to call yourself the owner of this ship?"

The boy wearing white gloves only shook his head in disappointment. Seemingly the captain's words hit the nail on the head and angered him because in the next moment, he drew his sword out of its case, holding his blunderbuss in his left hand.

"Unlike someone, I did my best to earn ranks."

"You mean licked your best?" barked Wanda from afar, not letting this chance go away without any comments.

"Insult me all you want, I don't care." he said, then pointed his blunderbuss towards Namikawa "But I do care about that reward posted on your captain's head!"

"Oh, Minamisawa, you're dead wrong here. The reward was posted on everyone's head in my crew, catching only me would be a waste of time, wouldn't it, Naoto?"

Wanda Naoto gave him a look as Namikawa continued his theatrical antics slowly distancing himself from his partners on the deck. His captain had a sly smile on his face, meaning that he finally had some sort of plan.

"What do you mean?" asked Minamisawa keeping an eye on Namikawa's movements. But while the navy officer tried to figure out what was Namikawa's goal with this idle chat, Naoto, who stood near the main mast suddenly understood the plan of his captain, signalling Umigishi Entarou to shake off the soldiers on their right. As they stood no chance against his boulder like figure and collapsed easier than a tower without cement.

"That if you keep focusing on me my mates might escape, so does your reward!"

"What?!"

Before Minamisawa Atsushi could do anything about the escaping crew members Rensuke attacked him from the front. He barely blocked the hit with his blunderbuss. It left a nasty mark on the precious barrel, knocking of the gilded engravings. The navy officer wanted to shout at him for being a barbar, but Rensuke quickly delivered a kick in his knees, leaving Minamisawa defenceless.

"As I said, without them, I'm just your everyday worthless pirate scum. Turning me in wouldn't give you enough money for your fancy hairdresser, just saying." he cackled, watching as his mates quickly started throwing sacks on the Ornitier. Everything went well.

"My handkerchief will wipe up your blood!"

„So you got that job as janitor, after all. And there I was thinking you might've gotten a better rank."

He was about to escape when he heard a voice. Right behind his head a toneless voice lapping up his neck like a lukewarm breeze.

"Freeze!"

Rensuke instinctively leapt away, leaving an opening on his defence what Minamisawa immediately used for his advance causing the captain to trip and fell forward, landing hard on his knees.

"That's the end of your voyage, pirate," a voice called out to him.

Minamisawa smirked at his new subordinate. Ibuki Munemasa was only a freshman under his wings, but he always had to be in the center of attention, like some kind of freak. Of course, he had to butt into his business with Namikawa.

"You wish. Everybody get moving!" Namikawa commanded. "I'll go after you, just go."

"Rensuke, will you be alright?" Naoto asked as he fiercely fought back, clearing the way to their ship, but his captain was already occupied by the two officers, jumping away from their attacks. He tried edging closer to the side of the ship.

"I said go!' Rensuke shouted impatiently as he leapt at Minamisawa again. "We will meet later, just don't start acting like my mother because this is clearly not the time that."

He didn't have time for sappy goodbyes this time or his mates might've fallen with him too and knowing Wanda he wouldn't hesitate to risk his life for him. But now he needed to fulfil his role as a captain and sunk this goddamned ship to ensure the safety of his mates.

Minamisawa shook his head, "What a fool."

As Rensuke tried to neglect their attack he got cornered at the other side of the ship with only the wooden handrail between him and the sea. Out of the two possible deaths that came into his mind, he wanted to choose something worthy of a pirate.

Something that didn't include being stabbed or gunned down by coward lapdogs of the navy. So the only choice he had was to jump, hoping that his first mate will listen to him and won't turn back with the Orinitier.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Minamisawa, but alas, I have to leave your extremely entertaining company and you fluffy new dog."

His feet parted with the handrails.

Only a terrified shout could be heard, filled with very Minamisawa-like malicious growling. And with all honesty, Rensuke couldn't help but smile at this act. Dying by the hand of those idiots had no rewards.

The impact made him dizzy, but he didn't lose his consciousness right after sinking deep into the sea.

Compared to the world above the water, this place was enveloped by silence and darkness, endlessly taking away his vision.

Or so he felt like it.

Before he slipped away, he could hear a voice breaking the silence of the sea.

_Hey, are you all right?_


	2. The Lookout

He didn’t know how much time had passed since he fell into the water, nor why was he conscious of his thoughts, however one thing disturbed him greatly: those rocks, those freaking rocks what kept digging into his spine.

It made him more confused.

“Finally, I thought you would never wake up!”

A voice was calling him in the middle if the ocean. Now that was even weirder. As he looked to his left he saw a rather masculine girl staring back at him from the water. The end of her short black hair softly rocked on the surface of the waves, and the stray strands of red in her bangs gave her a mysterious and unique atmosphere, but there was one thing Namikawa couldn’t get over, no matter how hard he tried.

Those ears. Or flippers. He had no idea what a normal human would call them. It somehow fit the girl, but aside from that it was creepy for his taste, almost like some kind of weird abnormality.

“What’s yer problem? Cat’s got your tongue?” the boy asked, his black eyes carefully scanning Namikawa. “Though ye have no wounds?”

“No, I bet I have a serious wound in my brain” commented Namikawa looking the sky in order to escape the unnerving sight. “I’m going to die here, hallucinating monsters girls.”

“Who are the calling monster, scallywag?” the boy asked with a faked accent, pushing the shipless captain into the water. Namikawa came back almost instantly, gasping for air, trying to get the stinging water out of his eyes. “I’m a proper merman, not some kind of seabeast!”

“Wait, What? A merman? Are you telling me you’re a man? A boy? A fishboy?” he asked in a surprised tone after his sight finally came back.

“Yes?”

“I guess, with fish _parts_?”

“What are you trying to say?” the boy asked, slowly understanding the unspoken thoughts in Namikawa’s head. “A-ha…”

“It’s just how mermaids have fins for their lower part I guessed that probably you were different seeing how you’re a merman and all.” Namikawa tried to explain keeping his dignity, but without his crew backing him it was a quite hopeless situation. “I didn’t mean it _that_ way!”

“Says the scurvy pirate who was marooned by his own crew,” the merman laughed.

_Touché._

Before Namikawa could come up with a comeback the merman pulled himself up to the rocks, showing him his lower half. The orange coloured scales shimmered in the sunlight as tiny water droplets were collected at their connections.

Though his fins weren’t in such good shape as they had many holes and their ends were torn. Namikawa couldn’t help but wonder how could someone, who lives in the water ruin them so badly. They weren’t supposed to touch anything with their fins. Anything, but water.

“Not bad,” he nodded, trying to hide his amazement from the other. “So what’s your deal?”

“Why would a merman save your life, and not kill a pirate in the moment it comes back to his senses, I wonder.” The merman’s lips formed a smile, but this was not the usual smile, Wanda or the others gave Namikawa when they successfully looted a ship, no, this was a smile of a machinator. “You’re a keycharacter in my plan, because you see, I want to be a quartermaster!”

It took Namikawa good few minutes to comprehend the words that left the mouth of that lousy merman.

Someone who has no legs.

A Quartermaster?

“Have you lost your remaining screws?” he wanted to retrain himself but this kid was crazy.

“Why? I always dreamt of working with pirates!” The merman crossed his hands over his pale chest. “That or you won’t ever see your beloved Ornitier again.”

_True,_ thought Rensuke. He’d told Wanda to leave with the ship immediately so probably they were heading to Winslow Island. Yet he couldn’t let a fish be his first mate, not when that role was filled by Wanda, his dearest friend.

He could only imagine Wanda’s face if he came home with a fish, announcing that said fish will take over a job on the ship what requires swift movements, a good head in his neck and a special bond with other crewmembers.

“Look, while I’m grateful for your help, currently I have no free positions on my ship.”

“You even have a cabin door unlocker?” the merman blinked sadly.

“We have no doors on my ship that needs to be unlocked,” Namikawa lied.

“What about a driller then? I could sink ships by drilling holes into them, like I always do whenever the navy is fighting with pirates and I get bored.”

Namikawa’s interest was piqued by the name of the navy.

“You drill holes into their ships?”

The boy nodded. “By the by, I’ll leave you now. Don’t go anywhere or you’ll be sorry.”

Then with a hop, he disappeared in the sea, leaving Rensuke completely alone with his tiny rock-island.

_It’s not like I could._ thought the young captain as he climbed back to his throne.

<==>

Hours have passed but the merman was nowhere to be seen and Namikawa started to running out of rocks as the tide slowly rose the water to his navel. He could’ve swam away, but as he had no idea about the whereabouts of the nearest land, waiting was safer.

In the meantime he tried to find a good excuse to make the fishboy leave him alone as he was rather persistent about joining his crew.

But right now his priority was to get back to the Ornitier and make sure that neither Minamisawa nor someone else from the navy had harmed it and in order to do that he needed a plan.

A plan only pirates could execute.

<=>

The sun almost set when the merman appeared again, holding a flask in his hand. Obviously it was for Rensuke, but the boy didn’t hand it to him immediately.

“So, you had some time to think about your situation, am I right?” he smiled.

“Am I your hostage now?” Rensuke tried to get the flask out of those cold hands, but the boy swam away faster than he could reach out to him.

“Pretty much yes. I could drown you and no one would know what happened to the captain of Ornitier, the exact same ship what anchored at the port of Rottingham Island this afternoon.”

Namikawa stared at him, trying to keep himself in one place. The tide was now almost at his chest, cooling off his body and making his movements sluggish.

If his crew was at Rottingham he needed to get there as fast as he could, because Wanda was trying to do something really stupid to revenge Rensuke’s fake death.

“Take me to them! Now!”

The merman just shrugged, handing him the flask filled with water. “You know the magic words.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll let you join my frigging crew, you seasnake, just let me talk to my first mate. You can’t even comprehend how important is this with that fishbrain of yours.”

“How about… no?” the merman disappeared in the water, then reappeared behind Namikawa. “You’re a pirate. A really clever pirate and speaking of your crew, there is no way you would let me join them, am I right, Captain Namikawa?”

The merman ran his hands up alongside the spine of the captain, resting his hand on Rensuke’s shoulder.

“So I’m offering you a fair trade. I’ll take you to your friends, but that’s the second favour. My only request is that for saving your puny ass and your friends’ lives, let me join your crew. I know you want revenge, so I want to help you with it,” the merman finished swimming away from Namikawa.

The playful smiles and gestures were nowhere to be found. For a full thirty seconds Namikawa sat still and held his breath. The tiny guppy transformed into a shark right in front of him.

“Alright!” he reached his hand to seal their contract but once again the merman had something else in mind.

“Not that easily,” he stopped Namikawa when he was about to stand up. “If we’re going to make a contract I want it to be lasting, so YOU can’t go and just back out whenever your little pirate brain says so.”

“So what do you want now? Do you see paper and ink in my hands? Or do you want to carve our contract into a stone with urchin spikes?”

“I want to seal the deal with a blood oath.”

“Are you out of your friggin’ mind? A blood oath? In the middle of the not-exactly-salty sea? No way.”

He regretted those words sooner than they reached the ears of the merman. “Wait…!”

Out of two bad things he always ought to choose the lesser bad and now his crew worth way more than having a wriggling seadweller on his deck. It was a price he would gladly pay for his mates. He reached for his dagger and held it above the water.

“How should we do it?”

“Just cut your palm, I’ll cut mine and then we’ll shake hands. That’s how they do it in old tales.”

“Right, but before we do that, tell me your name.”

“It’s Misaki. Yoshimine Misaki,” said the merman, lifting his head wearing a tiny smile. “And I hope you’re aware that this’ll hurt like hell.”

Namikawa sent a piercing glare towards the merman, but stayed silent.

He wanted to drop the dagger as soon as it cut through his flesh. It wasn’t enough that his skin was covered with sea salt, the dagger wore the same coating. Tears came into his eyes as droplets of blood fell into the water, but he kept his calmness around Misaki as the other boy followed him.

As the boy held his hand, he could feel the merman softly shivering from the pain.

“You won’t regret having me as your crewmember.” Yoshimine said as he tried to fight back his tears.


	3. Oh, Rottingham!

“So what’s up with Rottingham?” asked Misaki curiously, watching as Namikawa tried to make himself look better than a beached sea sponge.

“You want to be a pirate yet you’ve never heard of Rottingham nor the Pirate Lords?”

“Pretty much my answer is yes.” Misaki pouted, splashing some water towards Rensuke. “Sorry, but I haven’t had the time neither sources to be perfect in _piratology_.”

Namikawa couldn’t believe his ears. This kid wanted to join them, because he is simply interested in this pirating thing? He threw the merman a suspicious glare, wondering what could’ve been his motivation to join the race what wanted to catch his folks as trophies.

“Say no more. Just sit still until I come back.”

“Already leaving your first mate behind? How nice.” Misaki said, justifying himself with a huff after Namikawa.

“First, you’re not my first mate, that’s Wanda. Second, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there are some differences between us. Something what we call legs,” he responded, turning back to Yoshimine “Or should I drag you along like a sack of potatoes, then leave you at the hands of the Governor?”

“Yes, you should.”

“No, I shouldn’t.”

Namikawa realized their argument went nowhere with the merman acting like a stubborn mule. In the meantime, his mates were in serious trouble so he couldn’t waste more of his precious time on Yoshimine’s childish antics. For a mythical merman, he was rather immature, yet Rensuke had the feelings that one of his side was only a mask. But which one?

In the end, he decided to give the merman some meaningless work to do, fearing that he might do something stupid if he can’t distract his attention from the village. What could he ruin by keeping an eye on his ship and the rest of the crew?

<=>

As night approached, people have found their way to the local bars to forget about the stress of the day, finding their everyday seat and enjoying that small time they’d spent anchoring near Rottingham.

The village itself was a small resting place for vagabonds and pirates who wanted to spend a few days away from the sea, without having to hide away from authorities. But aside from serving as the pirate-heaven it was a run-down country village, unfriendly to those who were considered to be greenhorns. The crew of the Ornitier never had to endure their fiendish pirate trials due to having a veteran as their captain in the past; Kuki Masatsugu.

Namikawa halted his steps, thinking about his days as a beginner, when he was eagerly strolling after the veteran sea dog, who robbed many ships and fought a seemingly endless war with the navy. He was never really sheltered away from the cruel world of adults, yet now that he thought about it the captain was always strict with them, sending them back to the ship while he was having _fun_. Although they had learned it the hard way that he was only doing this for their sake…

But many things have changed since. Compared to the old village-image, the main street was now lined up with shops for buying resources, hell, they even built a church in the middle of the town. That was something Rensuke would’ve never expected to see at a place like this.

He took one last glance at the small building then turned around and started walking towards the end of the village. The old Governor hated the buzz of the village, so he built his house near the other end of that shore-segment. If Rensuke was lucky the new one continued this old tradition and stayed at the same place, using the same rundown estate as his base of operations.

When the house slowly became visible through the bushes and trees lining the coast, he could easily see the bright light coming from its windows and thanked the gods for being kind to him tonight.

Now, he only needed to get there soon to prevent Wanda asking help from the Governor. This wouldn’t only leave the crew of Ornitier indebted to him, but also Rensuke would cease being the captain, thus inevitably losing the ship.

Even if he thought highly of Wanda Naoto, this was something he just couldn’t allow.

Not his treasured heritage.

He quickened his steps at the thought of this, not even caring when he had to cross the hundred years old suspension bridge, what creaked under his foot, throwing small bits of dust and dirt in the sea below him.

<=>

While on the other side of the island Misaki tried to find a way to make himself useful, or more like, to join the flow of events.

He hated when they tried to leave him out of the fun and now this is what happened. And now, he was left alone to guard a ship. A ship. Not even a hostage, but a goddamned wooden colossus. Misaki was sure he would kick a hole in its side if he _could_.

For a while he was just floating on his back, counting the planks, forming the ship, mumbling in a weird language.

_This is what you get from cutting your hand._

“Suffering from the stinging pain, while everyone else is in the middle of doing, well, something is irritating,” he muttered to himself bitterly. He continued this activity until he’d gotten bored and started throwing rocks and shells on the ship’s deck.

_We shouldn’t let them go to the Governor, Tairamaru. What if they got caught?_

Suddenly hearing voices from the bridge fuelled a sudden idea in his mind as he continued throwing slightly bigger rock on the deck. The youth on the deck finally gotten suspicious of his act and leant out to see the source of rocks.

“Hey!” Yoshimine greeted him with a flat expression.

“What do you want?” the white haired boy asked, unaware of Yoshimine’s origins.

“Now that you ask I would be grateful if you could give me some bandage for the scar I’ve gotten from making an oath with your lousy captain.”

“The captain…?!”

Yoshimine nodded, showing them the wound.

“Believe it or not from today, I’m the member of the crew too! That grump, what was his name? Right, Namikawa, provided me the rank of a quartermaster!”

“And you want us to believe that he would demote Naoto that easily?” another head joined to the kid wearing green hairband. This time it was the owner of the voice what he first heard on the deck.

Yoshimine let out a laugh, “After running to the Governor like a coward to… “ he stopped in mid-sentence, thinking about something, that would cause the cat to leave its bag. “…to claim ownership of this fine seafarer, the Ornitier? Right now, your dear captain is on his way to settle the score with this very important pirate and your dear friend, so you better be prepared because when the captain comes back he will have a word or two with you.”

His words seemed to hit the nail on the head. The two younglings started at him with wide eyes, trying to comprehend the events unfolding before them.

“You, beachhead, would you mind helping me stop this seadog from doing something stupid?“ he directed the last question to the bigger boy, named Tairamaru. The small one was too small to help him getting around on the land.

“Can’t you just go there by yourself?” he gulped, not wanting to get mixed up in this affair. Being scolded by Namikawa for not stopping Wanda sounded better than meddling with the affairs of his bosses.

“Hey, I’m here—“ the smaller one started, but he was stopped when Misaki raised his tail above the water.

“I never once said I was a human.” the merman stated.

Open-mouthed, the two boys couldn’t help staring at the glimmering scales.

“I guess now you understand the problem what comes between helping me and you being shrimp-sized,” he responded.

The small kid groaned in distress, while Tairamaru finally collected his courage to face the seamonster.

He didn’t avert his gaze from Misaki as he asked the following question. “What do you need?”

“Now that’s what I was talking about.” Yoshimine grinned. “First get me that whatchamacallit, that thingy with one wheel. I’m not familiar with landlubber dictionary.”

“You wouldn’t happen to want a wheelbarrow, right?” the small boy asked in a somewhat irritated tone. He was not a shrimp…

“Exactly, a wheelbarrow! Get me a wheelbarrow, quickly.”

Tairamaru gradually lost track of why they were helping the strange merman who claimed to be their new quartermaster, but in his head anything was better than waiting for Wanda and if helping this creature meant that they can see Captain Namikawa then they would gladly help with any crazy plan, even if that meant to change a simple wheelbarrow into a ridiculous chariot.

Minutes later the wheelbarrow dutifully rolled through the village, carrying the impatient, but rather clever merman, who couldn’t stop staring at the buildings those landlubbers have built in their free-time.

_They truly don’t know when they should give up,_ he thought as he watched the passing image of the church tower. Must’ve been hard building all of this, without the water giving them free access to the higher places.

“By the way, that is your name?” Tairamaru asked him as they arrived to the end of the village.

“Just call me Misaki.” Yoshimine waved. “What’s yours?

“Tairamaru. But you can call me Tai or Taira. I’m not really fond of that maru part in it,” he sighed.

Misaki decided to take a wild guess: “Too long to say it out in emergency situations?”

“Yeah.”

“You should stick to it, though.” the merman said quietly. But he almost instantly changed his attitude. “Damn, we’re getting side-tracked with this whole name-talking. Come on, Tairamaru, stop those idiots!”

“Aye, aye, sir.”  while the current situation was rather important, Tairamaru couldn’t help but laugh at Yoshimine.  For a new first mate he was rather direct with a common cooper.


	4. A Very Important Pirate Leader

The Governor’s house was anything but pleasant.

Once it was the most prosperous estate on the island, but time has left quite impressive marks on its sides and no one ever cared to clean off the pitch black soot from the walls, or simply renovate the ruined parts. It left the impression that the person who owned the house had many enemies and he wasn’t scared of making more if he had to.

And that was what Kabutenji Yuu was famous for.

The current leader of Rottingham started pirating at the age of thirteen, about ten years ago. He only started with a loyal friend on his side, but he claimed ownership over the _Black Waltz_ a few months later by pulling a coup d’état on its former captain.

They said he turned the crew against the captain without ever bribing or threatening them. It was how pirates coming from Raimon’s territory worked their way up on the rank list. Not with force, but with wits. This made them the most fearsome buccaneers one could ever met.

Luckily enough, in history only a few pirate ships were recorded sailing outside of Raimon territories and most of them were lost, when they tried to spread their wings too far, because the small pirates made alliances to bring them down as quickly as it was possible.

To think that now, Wanda and his fellow mates were trying to talk with Kabutenji about the Ornitier. Those half-baked idiots.

Without any second thought he almost ripped the front door out of its place as he forcefully opened it.

 _‘Dwelling on the past won’t get me nowhere.’_ he groaned as he started searching for the right room. The house was full of junk from all over the world, weird dolls and idols all over the place. If Kabutenji was bad at something it was keeping his collection at bay. Most pirates wouldn’t keep every trash they’ve found on their journeys, but it seemed the current Governor was way too fond of these small souvenirs.

The most honourable decoration in the house must have been the thunder shaped golden brooch in a glass case. Probably it was a memory from his homeland.

Rensuke started wandering around, looking for the source of the light. He was sure that the room was around the right side, but so far he’d only found the bath and another room, what served as storage.

But when he was about to continue searching for his lost mates in the left wing of the house, faint voices escaped from inside a room. No light under the door. This should’ve been the sign that it was empty, like any other places in this mess, yet upon listening he really did hear people talking on the other side.

With a swift motion he opened the door, only to find a small waiting room, with a chair sitting at the wall.

_Ha!_

He should’ve known that someone as important as Kabutenji would make a big fuss of receiving visitors. He would bet that the governor had a small notebook filled with empty appointments just to keep the image of being a **V** ery **I** mportant **P** irate leader in their world.

He yanked the door violently open only to be greeted with his lost crew members, who looked back at him with startled expressions.

The governor, Kabutenji Yuu was a man in his mid-twenties. His silver hair had grown a lot since he started roaming the seas, yet his face still resembled to that young boy who left Raimon for the sake of adventures. When Rensuke joined the small meeting, he did not show any signs of surprise, just let out a small chuckle accompanied by a smile.

“Well, I thought you were sure about the death of your captain.” He shot a piercing glare towards Wanda who couldn’t stop staring at Rensuke.

“But captain, you were shot by Minamisawa…! Right here! ” Nagisa, the gunner of Ornitier tried to explain themselves out of the situation by pointing to his shoulder, but Rensuke was on a rampage, too angry to think about the past. His anger got the worst of him and it was about to hit Wanda.

“Are you stupid?” he stood in front of his first mate.

Wanda Naoto remained silent. He made a mistake, they both knew this, and arguing with his captain would get them nowhere.

“Captain, we’re not here about you think we’re here!” Nagisa managed to squeeze that one last line out of his throat. He feared that Rensuke would hit Naoto if he let them stare at each other for any longer. “We wouldn’t…”

It seemed that Kabutenji got bored of their little act and hit the desk. “I don’t mean to interrupt your little lovers’ quarrel, but there are matters I wanted to talk to you about. Matters, that needs to be talked about, because it concerns the wellbeing of the crew.”

“My crew?”

“ Yes, your stinking crew. As you see, lately almost every cargo ship is filled with navy officers. It’s not just the so called _Artemicion_ you tried to rob. Same happened when someone tried to attack the _Pollendina_ and the _Adamantine_.” After a minute of silence, he continued with an unexpectedly sharp voice. “Ten cargo ships in a week and almost every unimportant ship had high security on her deck, while those who carried luxurious goods were left unguarded.”

Leaving the kids for their thoughts, Kabutenji pulled out a cigarette from the drawer in his desk, wordlessly lit it.

“So your suspicion is that someone might have a plan including transport…” Wanda Naoto added, as if talking to himself while putting the pieces together. This earned a glare from Namikawa who still felt that he’d lost his title as captain. “Sorry, Cap’t.”

“Nevermind,” Rensuke shrugged.

“I would highly appreciate if you stopped this now,” he said bluntly, blowing a puff of smoke towards the boys. “Cockfight is not allowed in this office. You are the last known crew who’ve tried to raid a cargo and came back empty handed. Have you seen anything suspicious? Anything, that would worth reporting?”

“Let’s say, we’d seen something, why does it matter to you?” Rensuke gave him a challenging look “What do _you_ know?”

The experienced captain looked back at him, inhaling another doze of smoke, but this time he just let it find its way out of his lung by itself. He seemed to be deep in thought for a moment, playing with the papers lying on the desk.

“More than you, that’s for sure. Look, Namikawa, what would you do if I told you the balance of the sea is in grave danger?” he said, without blinking an eye.

Kabutenji was left without a response, so he continued. “Undines, leviathans, the mighty Kraken, Tiamat… While they rarely show themselves to us, folks, who’ve originated from the land their existence is almost unquestionable.”

“Wait, mermaids only exist…” Nagisa started to object automatically, but once again Kabutenji stopped him from finishing the sentence and took the lead again.

“…In fairytales told for toddlers? This only proves that you know nothing.”

Rensuke wanted to tell everything about his newfound ‘crewmember’, yet that would lead to giving Kabutenji too much information. One thing he couldn’t allow without knowing his intentions with this little tale.

Then, feigning ignorance, he joined the conversation with the best possible statement. “Even the laziest tale has some base on reality.”

“That’s right!” the governor clicked his tongue. “Lately there are rumours we can’t overlook and with each passing day their numbers keep raising. What a great puzzle, don’t you think?”

_Nope._

The crew of the Ornitier started to get rather annoyed by the governor, especially since the more he talked the more aggressive he’d gotten.

“The reason why I asked you to come here tonight is to ask you a favour. Keep your eyes open, watch out for cargo ships and the navy and tell me everything you see.”

“Only because you had a bad feeling about them?”

“That. And there is something else, but that is classified information, not something I would share with rookies.” After that he stayed quiet, with no one asking him questions the crew of Ornitier decided to leave.

“Namikawa,” the man spoke, right before the pirate left his office. “Come back for a moment, you good-for-nothing scallywag.” Even though, he said mocking words, his voice lacked any kind of joking tone. The boy sent his mates downstairs and stepped back into the office.

“What do you want, old man?”

The governor just smiled as he left the comfortable leather chair and walked towards his old showcase. “There is something what Kuki left here for you years ago,” he explained rummaging through old junk. This collection seemed to be much more personal, as he handled even the wackiest masks with great care.

“You mean the Captain?”

“Aye, him. That old monkey.”

When it came to Namikawa’s foster father every pirate, who was around the age of Kabutenji seemed to salute in front of his memory. He wasn’t just some kind of rookie, calling himself a mighty pirate. No, Kuki Masatsugu was one of the worthiest person for the title of Lord of the Seas. A rank, common pirates couldn’t even dream of.

“He came here a few years ago, almost right before that night and gave me this letter.” Yuu handed him a storm-beaten envelope, bearing the violet seal of the pervious captain of the Ornitier.

The only problem was that the envelope had no recipient, but a word ‘Fellheaven’.

“I’ve guessed that you would know something about this Fellheaven, because that old monkey would never say a word about his plans. He just stormed into my house, tossed the letter at me without a word and the in next moment he was nowhere to be found.” Probably half of this was a fib from Kabutenji’s part to make up for the missing parts.

“Sounds like him.” Rensuke agreed, slipping the envelope into his shabby jacket.

“So you know what this Fellheaven might be? A lady? A place?”

Rensuke remained silent. He knew it well what ‘Fellheaven’ stood for, but he didn’t want to answer right away. Not to an unfamiliar person. Fellheaven stood for a place he never intended to visit in the future, not after what he had to go through there.

He took a breath, and then muttered is reply. “…I’ll take it to the recipient _if_ I find out anything.”

“Great, I knew I could count on ya! And don’t forget to keep your eyes open for me, I know it sounds like a fib, but our future might depend on youer pretty eyes.”

Namikawa just shrugged at his remark.

When he spun and started to leave the door behind he’d heard voices coming from downstairs. He could easily identify Naoto and Nagisa, but for some reason Tairamaru’s voice mixed into their, accompanied by a new one.

_For god’s sake, should I tie him to the ship to stop him from wandering around?_

“Yoshimine you freakin’ salmon!” he stormed downstairs only to be greeted by a fish tail, hanging out of a wheelbarrow. The mocking smile Yoshimine gave him enraged him even more, but the only one who was seemingly in shock was Naoto, who kept repeating the same sentence over and over. ‘Mermaids don’t exist.’ while pulling on his dreadlocks.

On the other hand Nagisa and Tairamaru seemed to have no problem talking with the boy.

“How the hell did you get here?” he asked, trying to keep his voice from showing his anger.

“By the sheer force of will, captain!” he spread his arms, making the wound visible on his palm. “And with the help of _our_ cooper.”

 _It’s not our cooper._ He wanted to say, but instead just started walking back to his ship, dragging Wanda along as he still had problems accepting the presence of a merman.

“Come, we're leaving the island.”


	5. You Never Listen

The curtain of night hid the little group as they made their way back to the ship. No one had said a word. Not because they had nothing to say, but because of the eerie atmosphere what lingered around their captain prevented them from voicing their thoughts.

“Oi, captain, how did you get back?” Nagisa decided to break the silence between them. “We all thought that, you know, you were dead.”

“A pact with the devil, will help you in times of need.” he growled under his breath, quoting an old idiom. Admitting that he had to ask for help in the middle of the ocean would’ve hurt his honor. After all, a captain had to be strong, never relying on other’s help. Or so he thought.

“Hey.” Yoshimine turned around in the wheelbarrow “I’m not a devil, you know?!”

“True, you have fins, not horns, but you’re only inches away from being a devil from the deep abyss.” A spiteful grin appeared on the captain’s face as he pulled Yoshimine’s fin-ears, making the merman shriek from surprise.

It echoed in the empty port, making it clear that the crew of Ornitier left the living quarters. Fortunately, the shops, built for trading and ship repairing were all closed at that time of the day, so their little argument went unnoticed.

 “What’s your problem?!”

“You, butting into our life. That’s my problem.” he spat in disgust.

Before Misaki could say anything else Rensuke yanked the handles of the wheelbarrow away from Tairamaru and dumped the merman into the sea, then tossed the barrow the he side. They had a pact, but this doesn’t mean he will let a fish, out of every creature make fool of him.

When the boy emerged again, he was gasping for air, just like a real human, but Rensuke didn’t let himself to be deceived by the pathetic act.

“Isaribi, tell the others to get ready for our departure. And by any means, please don’t listen to that thrash in the water _again_. Don’t feed him, don’t bring him on my ship, don’t do _anything_ at all.”

“Alright, but… Can I talk to him?” he asked, feeling discouraged by his captain. “After all, he is your first mate and all.”

‘No.” Namikawa said almost expressionlessly, grabbing Wanda by the arm, dragging him away from the docks.

The captain and his unlucky first-mate soon disappeared in the night, searching for a place where they could discuss the sudden changes happening around them.

Tairamaru stayed frozen in place, unable to move. His captain tended to be rude, but what he told to the merman was really not like him. He was not simply rude, but he tried to kick Yoshimine every time he had a chance.

The boy felt skin on his leg as cold hands clutched his trousers. Yoshimine was holding himself up with his elbows, giving Tairamaru a worried look, what shocked the young cooper even more. This was no monster, so why did they have to act like he was one?

“You lied to me.” murmured Tairamaru, sitting down at the edge of the dock.

“…But he told me that I can be his firstmate!”  The merman angrily shown Tairamaru his wound to prove his truth again. “He has the same mark on his hand, because he said okay to my clauses.”

“Yoshimine, you know we are talking about THE captain.” Tairamaru explained with a sigh. “Unless there were others around you there is no way he would admit something like this, even if you have the evidence tattooed right on your face. In his dictionary, accepting help from someone equals being too weak to fight on his own.”

The merman was about to open his mouth again, but closed it upon observing Tairamaru’s face. “… I got it. Sorry.” he apologized, lowering his gaze.

“Nevermind. So do you still want to be a member of our team?”

“O- Of course.” the merman pouted. “Would I go this far if I wasn’t serious?”

Before he knew it the boy was on his feet again, his face beaming with confidence as a completely new plan appeared in the back of his mind. He wanted to help Yoshimine somehow, but to do that he needed the help of his fellow crewmembers.

“I’ll go and talk with the others. Come to the right side of the ship later and I’ll tell you everything.” He made a ninety-degree turn and marched toward the Ornitier.

Yoshimine was left there alone, with a puzzled look on his face.

***

Throughout the years Wanda had come to the conclusion that not even Davy Jones himself could change the mind of his captain, once he decided on something. Probably because it was easier to keep himself on the same old road, than constantly changing course and getting side-tracked.

He was like this when they first met on that tiny island. Stubborn kid, who always got what he wanted through force and rude words. Yet, no one really had anything against his behaviour, because the same person also understood his friends better than anyone. Hurt their feelings and you had signed a one-way ticket to hell.

Over the years, Namikawa matured a lot, especially after he became the captain of their ship.  But regardless of the many hardships they’d endured together, Wanda had to come to terms with the fact that the captain’s anger never truly disappeared and even days after a fight, he will keep mentioning bits about it in their conversations.

Probably the sole reason why he was dragged along was just to give Namikawa a good opportunity to scold him for acting too soon, visiting Rottingham and visiting Kabutenji without waiting for his return. God, the list could go on as of why he should be thrown into the sea, yet when they reached the bar there was no signs of the upcoming storm.

Even when their destination turned out to be harmless place at the far end of the town his suspicion was still present.

“So…” he sat down, expecting a reasonable answer from his captain. “Listen, if you want to behead me for today, then it wasn’t me, Kabutenji insisted us to come over as soon as we reached the land.”

“Cut it out.”

It looked like the bar hadn’t had any wave customers for a while. There were few people here and there but the place lacked the atmosphere of that good old pirate burrow. But the distinctive piercing smell of alcohol filled their lungs. Namikawa took a deep breath as he was about to ready himself for the talk.

“It’s about the merman.” Namikawa tried to keep his voice low, to avoid any unnecessary attention from the customers.

“What about him?” Wanda asked in response. He looked questioningly down at his captain.

“Haven’t you seen him? He is a merman.  And not just your normal, kind, helpful merman, no, he is a total psycho. Wants to join the crew just ‘cause he helped me once.”

“Oh, come on, just send him away.” spat Wanda with an irritated tone.

“With the price of him sinking our Ornitier? Are you out of your mind? We ‘ave no money for any type vessel ever since Murakami and Kaizu burnt down the galley. Or do I need to remind you the fortune we had to spend in order to make the ship swimming instead of smoking?”

Frankly said, they were so poor; they couldn’t even buy the smallest economy vessel at the previously owned ship market. The Artemicion was their big chance to get some loot, but with Minamisawa on board everything turned for the worse.

“Nah. I doubt we will need to buy a new one, nor repair the old gal. But if the merman is so dangerous why don’t we dispose of him? Ya know, sell him off somewhere far away, like, I dunno, in that certain city the capt’ used to visit a lot?” Wanda seemed to hit a sensitive spot on Namikawa’s ego as the latter gave him a piercing, cold glare. “S’rry.”

“You better not saying anything else. Besides I won’t tolerate tossing others in slavery.” he spoke in a murmur. “Instead help me find a way to get rid of that scurvy brat without sinking my own ship _or_ selling him at the fish market.”

Wanda sat next to him deep in thoughts when he finally found a possible solution for their problem. So kind as always. If they just killed the kid they would have no further problems with his scales, but no, of course that was prohibited in the first round of their musing.

His fingers were drumming on the table as he slowly imagined every possible scenario, until he found the most usable plan.

“Let the boy get what he wants. If he wants to be a pirate, then we just have to make sure he gets the most quality pirate training a merfolk can ever get.”

“Not bad.” the captain gave a grin as he reached for the menu. “But if your plan fails you owe me and the whole crew a round of grog at Spader’s. Also the merman will be the new firstmate on the ship.”

‘What?! Heck, Rensuke have you gone mad?! What can a fish do what I don’t?”

“Who knows?” he sat back in the chair, taking his sweet time to look at the variety of foods the bar could offer him. He hadn’t eaten anything since morning. “I’m starving. What should we eat? I vote for Orange Fish.”

“Get me the biggest roasted red snapper they can fetch from the ocean, there is no need for them to slice it, I’ll do that myself.” he growled.

Namikawa just laughed at the tantrum of his first-mate as he waited for the right moment to ask him about their visit at the Governor’s mansion.


	6. The Captain's Decision

When they arrived back to the docks everything was silent. Yoshimine was nowhere to be found. Not near the Ornitier, not around the docks and this only fact was enough to send chills down on Rensuke’s spine. Not seeing the merman around was just as unnerving when one was aware of the presence of a mosquito, but could not see it.

Speaking of the Ornitier, the only crew member guarding the ship was the bosun, Saruga Souma. His white spiky hair almost fluoresced in the faint moonlight. He was about to get rid of the remaining pieces of the dinner what stuck between his teeth, but his dagger was too thick to winkle out the meat-piece.

“You’ll cut off your tongue if you keep using that blade as a toothpick.” Namikawa greeted him, hitting the bosun on the back.

In his surprise Souma not only started coughing but jumped too, dropping his blade in the water and sending it to the bottom of the harbour.

“Cap’t,” Souma readjusted his glasses in embarrassment, “And Wanda… I thought you will be out for the night.”

“Are you insisting that I’m not welcomed on my own ship?” Namikawa gave him a lopsided smirk as he made his way towards the Ornitier.

 Souma was walking with them and it looked like he had much to say. “Cap’t look, about that merman you caught today…”

Namikawa stopped in his tracks and sent an almost frightened look toward Naoto. Merman? Please, let it be someone else.

“What about it? Don’t ye dare to tell me that you brought that rotting fish on my deck.”

“Aye, ‘tis not the case. Just… we came to like the little scoundrel a lot while you two were away and thought about keepin’ ‘im around, but then we were told by Tairamaru that it is forbidden. You know the rest.” he shrugged.

“Just how you can’t see monkeys playing poker, you won’t see fish going on adventures with a ship,” Wanda explained in a very diplomatic manner. Namikawa seemed to go off the track they decided to follow, so he needed to step in in case his tongue slipped about their plan.

After all Yoshimine could be anywhere if the crew was already aware of his existence. In the end it got better, because all of their mates were on the deck, waiting for their captain to come back.

Hopefully they didn’t have a plan.

“Where is that ignorant deck-swabber?”

“Which one?” asked someone from the back of the ship.

Namikawa sighed, “The one that was gobbled up by a fish. Is he here tonight in our small group of friends?” He looked around, but no one seemed to shiver in fear yet nor raised their hands to speak.

“Captain, the big thing is, Yoshimine left a while ago,” said Tairamaru weakly, hiding his face by staring at the flooring.

“Are you sure? A liar’s punishment is worse than those who fail to complete a task given by their captain,” he warned the boy, but it didn’t have any effect. Yet the fact that we wasn’t willing to look into his eyes was an obvious sign, that Tairamaru tried to keep some secrets to himself, but if the crew wanted to test Namikawa so much, then be it. It just makes it easier for him to turn tables with the merman.

“Yes, I’m a-absolutely sure. Not long after you two left, we had a talk and he expressed to me how he changed his mind, because he didn’t see our crew fit to the task of helping him and yadda yadda. I’ve heard he went to the Ruchipu Isles, we should go after him.”

Ruchipu Isles were famous for their industry built on _a_ certain type of dog toy, an award winning place for good for nothing pirates to spend their vacation doing nothing. To think that even merfolk knew about it raised some questions in Rensuke.

He knitted his brows. “That’s a shame, really. I was about to invite the lad to ouer crew. But I guess, if he is about to play all day with rubber chickens, I won’t hold him back. After all the way of pirates is not meant for mermen.”

This was the part where the cat should’ve jumped out of the bag with Yoshimine shouting at them, but nothing happened. Rensuke glanced at the crewmembers; something about their dishonest expressions told him that Yoshimine’s sudden departure for the Ruchipu isles was a fib, but he couldn’t find any evidence to confirm his prosecutions.

“We should go look for Yoshimine to tell him the good news.” Nagisawa tried to be the voice of the reason on the other side of the ship, yet he only caused the whole thing to fall apart.

“Nah, we ain’t going to the direction of those isles for a good year. At least, not until Christmas or some other solemn occasion like Wanda’s birthday.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to spoil your present.” Rensuke couldn’t help but to let out a chuckle, averting his gaze from Naoto.

If there was one thing Wanda hated aside the supernatural creatures, it was rubber chickens from Rensuke every single year and it seemed to change into a running gag among the crew because the poor toys often served to annoy the hell out of him.

When they had no food, those squeaky chickens almost immediately came into sight as decorations on their table, but rumours were told that the captain himself had one in his cabin, among the many junk he’d collected on their various adventures.

“What I was about to say--” he tried to get back to his half-serious style, but oh god it was hard. Not after someone started imitating the voice of the said toys. “Murakami, stop that!” he pleaded between tears.  The tiredness was about to get his brain functions too.

“So what I was about to say, if Yoshimine is so eager to buy us rubber chickens, we should let him have the time to collect the money first. I daresay, we should pay Senbayama a visit to refill our food stocks, then in a few weeks there will be a ball at the neighbouring area, I bet there will be a few ships we can rob.”

“Oh, you mean the ball at Tengawara?” Namikawa almost jumped out of his skin upon hearing that dreaded word leave the lips of his fellow crewmember.

“Hell, no. The place we will visit is not full of freaks, who are so high and mighty about knowing how to read their so called star map,” he raised his voice. He didn’t want to do that, but it happened faster than he could silence his enraged thoughts. Sadly, this was a touché topic.

After that, he refused to even look at the people in front of him. They had gone through this road so many times, he lost count of them. Tengawara left an old scar on the whole Ornitier, but Namikawa was still under the pressure of the past.

The others have moved on, but he was so involved in the events what happened on that island, that it made the healing process much more painful, the wounds eventually poisoning his thoughts about that place.

“Come on, Cap’t. We haven’t visited Tengawara since, you know…” Saruga called after him, but it seemed he was talking to the back of his captain.

“And this is exactly the reason why we won’t visit it now, either.” Wanda jumped in, shooing away the crew before they could experience the captain’s wrath. “Back to your posts, everybody, we are going to leave Rottingham at dawn. Check every single rope around the ship, make sure we have no tears or leaks then go to sleep and repeat the process in the morning! The Ornitier just escaped from a dire situation, we don’t want to sink in the first turn.”

Wanda gave out orders like a true veteran quartermaster should, ensuring that no mates could disturb Namikawa in his pondering. With the disappearance of the merman the old problems resurfaced, making him wonder if it had been better to keep the boy around.

Of course, he was not fond of him, but for the sake of their mental health, the Ornitier needed to experience something new or else they’ll just end up losing their ship one day.

***

After passing many quiet hours, staring at the water and thinking about his past, Namikawa kept on replaying the events in his head, over and over again. He tried to find the mistakes in their plans, how they failed or rather, when. What made the navy attack and who betrayed their trust. It was all tangled and without his captain there was no way he could solve this mystery.

He wanted to read the letter so badly, in hope to find some clues, but he couldn’t even bring himself to open the seal as it made him feel nauseous every time he thought about what happened after they returned from Tengawara.

The first thing he could smell that noon was not the refreshing smell of gunpowder and the scent of rotting wood, but something much more dreadful.

“What a joke.” he growled under his breath, clutching the crumpled envelope. Probably the letter was sent to apologize for what happened. He was sure that persona had something to do with the whole catastrophe.

***

The sun was not high up in the sky yet, but the dark blue skies have already started changing their colours into the strange mixture of purple and orange. Before he knew it dawn had come, bringing their departure from Rottingham.

He was about to rest his aching head on the ship’s railing when his eyes met with a familiar face. A face that caused so many problems in only one night, that it deserved its very own section if they ever wanted to change their ship into an art museum.

But strangely enough, neither of them seemed to be in the mood for their usual quarrel.

“I see you’ve changed your mind once again,” Namikawa told him, not raising his head from the railings.

“I never left in the first place.”

“I know.” Namikawa squeezed his eyes shut. “What do you want? Still blabbering about joining my crew?”

“Well, I wouldn’t be here if I had any other plans in mind, would I? I’m bound to you by blood.” Yoshimine’s answer was much more restrained than when they’d met at the Governor’s house. It was almost calming, making Rensuke unable to respond.

The merman in the water gave him an apologetic look.

_Kittens._

 Came into Namikawa’s mind. Kittens did the same when his mother was about to kick them out of her house. They purred and snuggled closer to her until she said approved of their stay. After that his mother was non-existent for the cats.

Those drooping ears, the sad eyes what seemed to hold so much understanding toward him, all of them were part of this strange sea cat’s plan.

But Rensuke didn’t care.

“You know what? You can call yourself the member of my crew, just don’t go giving orders to my men and don’t ever come to the deck! You’ll swim. Swim all day; swim all night, until I say it is enough. “

“Aren’t you a tiny bit harsh? Even if I have fins, it’s like running next to one of your devil carriages. The ones pulled by those neighing creatures,” he added.

“Do I look like I care?” Of course he didn’t, Rensuke was preoccupied by his headache, but deep down he felt bad after imagining the example.

“No. But you look like someone who could use a few hours of sleep. I can see the dark circles under your eyes even from here,” the merman was about to say something else, but he closed his mouth in silence, without ever starting the sentence.

“And whose fault are these?” he angrily pointed at his eyes.

“Alright, next time I’ll tug you to sleep. Sing you a song or two, just stop you from blaming everything on me,” he huffed.

“Hey, I didn’t do that.”

“Go to sleep. Even arguing doesn’t seem to go your way this morning.”

“I have to be ready for our departure.” Rensuke explained.

“I don’t care. Wanda can sail the ship without your help. Go to sleep, you lousy sleaslug!” he shouted this time and splashed a few droplets of water towards Rensuke, but they fell back on Yoshimine.

Probably the loud voice had the desired effect on him, because Rensuke stopped himself from countering the merman’s word. There was a bit more time before everybody wake up and he could use that time wisely.

He hid the envelope in his pockets and left for his cabin, without saying anything else to the merman.

“Pretending to be strong won’t get you anywhere.” said Yoshimine after he heard the door opening and closing. He still struggled to find the answer why he found the Ornitier so fascinating. Especially the captain; who was nothing like him, and yet for some reason he was very like him in some way.


End file.
